In one of the most anticipated feature roll outs, Facebook has made life easy for page managers providing them a set of features they are going to love. Page admins can now schedule posts six months in advance, each post at an interval of atleast 15 minutes.

According to Facebook Help Centre page, ‘You can prepare a post and schedule it to appear later by adding a date and time in the future before you post it. You can schedule a post up to 6 months in advance in 15-minute interval.

You can also post in the back date by choosing a date in the past. The post will appear immediately at the appropriate place on your Page’s timeline. All times correspond to the current time zone you’re in.

Another big change that will make community managers happy is the option to assign roles to page admins. Page admins can have 5 different roles, each with different abilities. Only managers can change what kind of admin someone is. All admins are managers by default.

The Facebook Help Centre page provides a table (below) that outlines the 5 admin roles and what they’re able to do:

Brands exist on Facebook to be able to communicate and create a rapport with their customers and connect with them on a personal level. And in order to achieve that, they indulge in engaging their fans on the brand page.

Having said that, what exactly is Page Engagement??
Engagement is any interacting which happens on the Facebook page and includes:
– Likes
– Comments
– Shares

In this day and age, there is no better way to reach out and engage with both present and potential consumers in social media than through an active Facebook Page!

Now, here are the best ways to assure high engagement on your Timeline?
• Cover Photo:
Your page’s Cover Photo appears right at the top of the Timeline. That is the first thing a user sees when they enter your page. Therefore, it is very important that you have a visually-attractive photo.

• Pinned Posts:
A Pinned post remains on top of your timeline for 7 days. So when you have an important message that you want to convey to your customers, ensure that you Pin it!

• Highlighted Posts:
Want a post to be highlighted and eye catchy? Simple…Highlight it on the page! This will ensure that the post and image appear prominently on the page by expanding to the width of your page.

• Ask Specific Questions:
On every post that goes on the page, ask questions that require short, crisp answers. This ensures higher engagement on the page.

• Post photos that provoke Comments, Likes & Shares:
The simplest way to get people to interact on your page is by posting interesting pictures. Pictures and Videos get the most number of posts and likes ever!

• Give people a chance to share their knowledge and expertise:
Being social requires you to being open to listening to others’ opinions. Give people an opportunity to voice their views and opinions on your page.

• Be authentic and be yourself:
Make sure you post about things that people relate to and not only about topics related to your industry/products.

• Post Often:
To ensure high engagement on the page, you need to be very active on the page. You need to post often enough to connect with the customers.

While most of us use Facebook as a virtual hangout/pastime, a lot of people are using Facebook a groundwork that helps them decide on a life-partner in an arrange Marriage.

So there is no more rotation of bio-data’s and pictures, people just log in to see what the other individual is like, on Facebook!

A female friend of mine whose parents asked her to look up for a boy’s profile on Facebook, overruled the boy because he used a very tacky line in the “About me” description and his profile picture was very distant, which made her assume that he must be ugly so he does not have the self-assurance for a closer picture.

So what are the dos and don’ts one must follow while dating and considering marraige?

Tips for a successful marriage planned through Facebook.

1. Avoid friending your partner’s cousins and family members. They have a habit of going through your oldest albums and digging up your glorious past.

2. Uncles and aunties above 50 are strict NO for your friend list. They are like silent observers of your news feed, who comment and share only in family gatherings.

3. Avoid calling each other ‘Jannu’ and ‘baby’ before your relationship is out in the open i.e. you family also knows about it. This will avoid the rumour mill at work and deprive your older cousins from gossiping for few more days.

4. Do not post 24×7 love messages, pictures and videos on your partner’s wall. It’s can get super irritating if not for you then for your friends who unfortunately are forced to witness your sweet nothings day and night.

5. Asking your cousins or friends to start calling the gal/guy whom you have just been introduced ‘jiju’ or ‘bhabhi’ would be an overkill.

6. Do not change your relationship status based on your mood swings e.g. ‘Oh, finally the marriage date is fixed’ — relationship status: Engaged; ‘We had out first argument. She wants pink to be our marriage theme. I want purple!’ — Relationship status: Its complicated.

Facebook is no more as casual as we would like to believe, it’s a platform for people to judge you. If you’re not on Facebook you are considered old fashioned or an alien, and if you are then there is no escaping the judging eyes.

Is it okay to lie a little on Facebook when considering marriage? Share your opinion

Facebook Timeline offers a great storytelling experience with updates, events, and milestones documenting the journey you or your favourite brand had taken over the years.

At Billboard Music Awards held on Sunday May 20, pop star Katy Perry unveiled her new song ‘Wide Awake’ featuring Facebook timeline. The video is shot in a timeline format starting since May 10,2010, when she had announced the release of her album ‘Teenage Dream.’

Katy Perry's Facebook Page

The timeline video shows her journey through various songs in the form of status updates, video updates and images. It showcases
her career so far. Katy Perry’s Facebook page has more than 43 Million likes making her the 7th most popular musician on Facebook.

It has been a busy week for Mark Zuckerberg who married his girlfriend Priscilla Chan in the backyard of his Palo Alto home on Saturday (May 19, 2012).

Just a few hours before the ceremony Facebook’s much anticipated IPO had hit the market bringing the company at $104 valuation. It’s been eight years since Facebook was founded in Harvard University’s dorm.

Neary 100 guests at the wedding were in for a surprise as they thought they were there to celebrate Priscilla’s graduation from the UC San Francisco. This was also the week when Mark Zuckerberg celebrated his 28th birthday.

Mark was quick to change his relationship status on Facebook and add his image with the beautiful bride in the wedding gown. Just look at the number of likes on his update, nearly touching a million as Facebook users started to congratulate the couple. You can wish them here.

Pictures are, by far, the sort of Facebook content that lures the maximum attention, so certainly, brands on the Facebook emphasis on them, right? Not so much as we would think, instead brands on Facebook focus on posting more links, which draw the slightest attention of the users.

Here’s a quick sneak-peak of what kind of pictures do users share and like;

Rihanna is the most 'liked' and 'listened to' musicians on Facebook in 2011

1. Celebrity Pictures– Popular faces that have already won a million hearts are one of the most assured ways to get likes 😉

2. Baby pictures – However old you are, you are bound to fall for the innocence on those naughty rascals eyes.

3. Pets– The only creatures who love you more than themselves (yeah I read that somewhere on the internet) and that’s reason enough for everyone to look at them with gooey eyes.

4. Funny/humorous– They are popular because they get shared and go viral in seconds. They are the sole source of entertainment for people with desk jobs starring at their laptop for hours.

5. Clever photography – Everyone appreciates innovation and creativity. What can be a better platform than Facebook to showcase your talent and get appreciated!

6. Nature photography– The closest one can get to nature sitting in a 4×4 cubical is through the refreshing nature pictures they see Facebook.

7. Special quotes– It’s a natural human tendency to smile when they read something they relate to, hence any of those quotes you see making rounds is because many people agree with it.

8. Nudity– Just as we’ve heard that sex sells, we also know that skin show is always attracting attention, not only of boys but girls too. Good, bad or ugly can’t deny they are popular!

9. Sweet couple/wedding pictures– Again the Awww factor makes these popular. Straight out of a Bollywood romantic story what people think is the most ideal and desirable makes the picture popular.

10. Food/chocolate photography- One of the biggest traits of humans is that they are Big foodies and will slurp at all those tempting and delicious looking food pictures

Facebook users will be able to add organ donor preferences to their profiles through ‘life event’, encouraging their friends to become organ donors as well.

Organ Donor 'Life Event'

This isn’t an official registration for donating organs, but a social pledge making everyone in your family and friends aware of your decision. This possibly could be used by family members to make decisions about unregistered donors more confidently. May be such public status updates will influence others too considering the impressive number of 901mn members in the network.

According to a press release by Facebook, “Today, more than 114,000 people in the United States, and millions more around the globe, are waiting for the heart, kidney or liver transplant that will save their lives. Many of those people – an average of 18 people per day – will die waiting, because there simply aren’t enough organ donors to meet the need. Medical experts believe that broader awareness about organ donation could go a long way toward solving this crisis. And we believe that by simply telling people that you’re an organ donor, the power of sharing and connection can play an important role.”

Some are raising questions about the effectiveness of this feature in driving awareness about organ donation. Though, according to one survey by Mashable nearly 60% of respondents think that ‘Organ Donor’ life event will help those in needs. It will be a while before you see this feature functional on your page.

Timeline, which was introduced recently was met with a mix set of responses from brands and marketers. Some saw the opportunity in it for a makeover while others frowned. Anyways, they couldn’t do much about it as Facebook went all out with the update since March 30,2012.

Since then there has been a flurry of white papers, resource documents, and webinars to demystify Timeline features teaching ways to maximize its usage. According to a recent research put together by eMarketer the ‘average engagement on brand posts have risen by 46% in the three weeks after the switch compared to the three weeks before.’

Similar research was conducted by EdgeRank Checker for engagement before and after the Timeline was introduced for 3,500 brand pages. Those with the Timeline had 41% more engagement. However, for brands which had not converted there was nearly a similar rise of 38%. Explaining this the company mentioned in a blog post, “A vast majority of all engagement takes place within the News Feed… Timeline has no direct impact on content within the News Feed.”

The good news is that engagement is on the rise with Facebook users exploring and interacting with brands. This is an opportunity for brands to maximize Timeline features by creating more compelling stories through it. Timeline is full of possibilities providing a visual treat for users through its more organized look. What needs to be seen is how creative can they get with their engagement to woo users.

Soon you will find a listen button on pages of musical artists. This will be between the Like and Message tab on the page. Once you click on the listen button it will direct you to the track of the artist on the social music streaming sites likes Spotify, for which the artist has already signed up.

Listen button is said to be live on the pages of Justin Bieber, Linkin Park and Slash. Though we didn’t find it when we last checked. This button will be part of core set of features offered by Facebook, located at a prominent location on the page. This is not to be confused with apps that many music streaming companies have created as specialised tabs on the page or in your activity stream.

This will provide a good marketing tactic for artists to showcase their new releases or hits on the page. Quite similar to pinning the post, they can now choose which song to highlight through the listen button. Additionally, hosting songs on sites like Spotify, Earbits, MOG, Rdio, and Slacker would act as an actual endorsement for these sites. Think Justin Bieber sending all his traffic from Facebook Listen button to Spotify. This will prove to be a real game changer and influence the bulk of the referral traffic for these companies.

So, we’ve been listening to how Facebook is bad for children, here’s a different take on it. We think if used constructively Facebook can be more beneficial than destructive. Here’s why & what your kid can do on Facebook (For children above 13 of course, as FB doesn’t permit access to children below 13)

Teachers are now looking at the benefits of using Facebook in classrooms

1. They’ve been hearing about in school, and seeing you using it too, stopping them is pointless. You need to make sure that it’s not a forbidden fruit to them which tempts them from time to time!

2. Forward them links to creative and interesting pages that they could learn from

3. If they are into any form art, such as writing, sketching, music, painting or photography, ask them to share their piece of art on Facebook and see what others have to say.

19yr old has more than 50,000 fans!

4.Ask them to participate in online contest, this will give them a huge exposure compared to school competitions as online you have a bigger audience, tougher competition and they know exactly where they stand.

5. If your child is a shy kid then this platform works like a miracle where they get to chat, share opinions, without being very conscious compared to classroom where he the physical presence of 60 or more people make him nervous.

6. Kids staying in hostels or away from home can get lonely at times and this will be a great way to be in touch with everyone, make new friends and be more social.

7. Stopping them is like over protecting them which makes it suffocating for them. Let them be themselves and go discover!

8. Some schools are on Facebook and most of them will be active soon. Schools now have active discussions, reminders, interactive programs and groups for their students. In fact it’s a very good way to keep track of the everyday school activities.

9. You wouldn’t like it if your kid is techtarded, so give him the early advantage and for all you know he could be the next Zuckerberg!
10. It makes them happy! Really happy and isn’t that the most important thing?